Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

The boys woke up shortly after 5 a.m…. There was no way they were going back to sleep so I set up the movie “The Incredibles” in French for them and that kept them occupied until breakfast. I made pancakes with syrup and freshly made, hot applesauce but they all turned their noses up at the applesauce – silly boys! It was delicious. They were impressed with the pancakes – I made each of them a pancake shaped with their initial. Also, they said their mom never served syrup with pancakes – just fruit or yogurt. Much healthier but Grandmas are supposed to spoil the kids, right? They liked the syrup.

After breakfast we had a harder time keeping them from killing each other (just a figure of speech!). Mark played UNO with them but the oldest got bored when Mark wouldn’t let him cheat – go figure. Then Mark decided to have them help him fix one of the trucks they brought over but they weren’t content to sit and watch – they had to pick up and handle all the tools, wire, everything! So, he then had them help one at a time. Eventually, the truck was fixed and – Ahh! Their parents arrived to whisk them off to the pool for a few hours.

It wasn’t really all that bad! Gilles and Myriam really appreciated a night on their own – said they’ve only left the boys once before with Grandparents! We enjoyed having a little more energy and noise in the house – we are pretty boring on our own. The boys said they had fun and they all loved the Valentine Cookies. Oh, did I mention that their mother tongue is French? Only the oldest speaks English… The 3 year old is almost impossible for us to understand, the middle one we caught about half of what he said. The oldest was our interpreter. Mark did quite well speaking to them in French. Me? Well, I usually forgot that I needed to use French and couldn’t come up with the right words anyway so I just talked in English and pretended they understood me! Their folks want them to learn English anyway so I’m willing to help them along.

After the boys left, Mark and I went off for a few hours. Another missionary family was having a “garage sale” so we went to have a look but most of it was for kids. So we didn’t buy anything. There is a store near there that we don’t get to very often. We stopped in there for a few supplies we can’t find elsewhere but for basics, it is more expensive. Mark wanted to take me out lunch but it was too early so we decided to go to the pool and sit there for a bit. It was a beautiful day. We chatted with the Bonvallats, shared a coke, watched silly kids in the pool, read a magazine Gilles had brought and watched a little bit of a tennis tournament. They were older teens or young 20s playing. We never found out who they were but they were taking it seriously. I felt a little sorry for them because they were in the sun and it was pretty hot out for that type of activity but I suppose that’s what tennis players do.

We went to lunch at the “Bourbon Street” coffee house but were a bit disappointed. It wouldn’t take much for them to do better. The atmosphere is nice though. It’s very well decorated.

On the way home we stopped at another grocery store and then got back in time to find Mama Fifi having an asthma attack! She hurried off to the doctor and we don’t expect to see her again for several days now. Last time she was sick for a week…

I made a lasagna for dinner using the sour milk “cottage cheese” I had made awhile back. It came out nicely, if I do say so myself!

We have been talking some to Joe and Rebekah – Poor little Abbey has not been feeling well and they ended up taking her to the emergency room because of her fever and difficulty breathing. Seems she caught a cold which went to a cough which ended up in asthma type symptoms. On top of that, she had a bladder infection. After receiving some medicines to bring down the fever, help her breathe, and fight the infection, she was able to calm down and get some sleep. Hence, her parents are also ready to get some sleep!

It’s also been good to talk to Emily on Skype this weekend! She doesn’t have a good enough internet connection at RVA so while she is in Nairobi, we are taking advantage of the better connection. She sounds good and is enjoying her break from school. They aren't doing too much, just hanging out, which is fine. She did mention eating out at an Ethiopian restaurant and also at Java House so she is a happy kid!

Oh! I almost forgot! We woke up this morning to a FULL TANK of WATER! First time in several weeks!! So, now we will do laundry and take showers but we still need to be careful because who knows when we'll get it again. Instead of praying for "our daily bread" I'm beginning to pray for "our daily water"! Praise God - from Whom ALL Blessings FLOW!